When the B2 was created by Andrew Szabo five years ago it was meant to be a trans-Sahara experience for ordinary people, with focus on charity and fun. In opposite to the Paris-Dakar, the B2 slogan has always been "Anyone, by anything, by any means". This year, organizing the B2 has been outsourced to someone with other things on their mind. Greedy for money and eager to create a copy of the Paris-Dakar the new organizers have completely failed on almost every front. 

Ever since the devastating briefing in Budapest the day before the start there has been a lot of talk between us participants.The general complaints can quickly be summarized to concern lack of control, lack of information, no apparent plan or morning briefings, no description of the daily stages, reluctance to speak English and absolute no interest in caring for the teams in the "Adventure" category - as we are in. The Charity aspect of this "new" Budapest Bamako also seems to be fading. 

Bottom line, we have decided to leave the race and continue on our own. Together with Andrew Szabo and many other teams we are meeting Monday night in Dakhla, on the coast of southern Morocco. From there we will follow the original route of the B2 all the way to Bamako, without the organizers. 

When it comes to the threat in Western Sahara, Mauritania and Mali, we are having doubts about how reliable this information is since the only ones claiming there is a threat are the organizers, and so far they have proven unreliable. We have ourselves been in contact with official and unofficial channels in Norway and Mali to get a proper evaluation. As of now, We consider the route to be safe. 

Todays route has been a mere transport stage, taking us from Anif and westwards to Assa where the other teams are in camp. Crossing amazing mountain passes, sharing our lunch with a local shepherd boy, seeing a full blown African savanna sunset, beating our way through a sandstorm in the night - all this made todays transport stage another interesting day in Africa. Tomorrow we will head on to Laayuone and the coast.